Hear this life

As soon as these words were spoken, all the female students around looked at Wen Tingli.

"Miss Huang." Wen Tingli went to greet Huang Yuanshan.

"Aren't you studying at Xiude? When did you transfer to Shishou?"

"Today." Wen Tingli smiled. She didn't want to talk about this topic.

Huang Yuanshan said, "I came to discuss something with the director of your school's art department, but I didn't expect her to be away, so I had to come out again. Have you had breakfast? How about I treat you——"

Wen Tingli pointed to the school gate and said awkwardly, "How about next time? I'm going to be late."

"Then it won't delay your registration. We'll talk later." Huang Yuanshan returned to the car, stepped on the accelerator, and drove to the other end of the road.

Wen Tingli turned back to enter the school gate, but the school worker stopped her and said, "Little girl, you are not from our school."

Wen Tingli took out the "Transfer Student Acceptance Letter" from her school bag and showed it to the school worker, and only then was she allowed to enter.

When several girls heard that Tingli was a transfer student, they all helped her find the way: "Our principal Zou is in Beiping for a meeting at the moment. You can go find Ms. Michelle first. She is the vice principal in charge of academic affairs. She usually works on the first floor of Siyuan Building. Look, do you see that little white building? It's there."

She didn't expect that all the classmates would be so enthusiastic. Wen Tingli was extremely happy and thanked everyone. She followed the instructions and found Vice President Michel's office. Standing at the door and looking inside, she saw a foreigner wearing a snow-blue crepe cheongsam sitting behind a desk working.

Hey, she seemed to have seen this blond foreigner somewhere.

"Hello, principal. I am transferring from Xiude Girls' Middle School."

Michelle looked up. She was about forty or fifty years old, with short hair cut like a student, a pair of shrewd blue eyes, an aquiline nose, a pair of tortoise-shell glasses on the bridge of her nose, and a thin, square face.

Wen Tingli remembered that she had seen this foreigner at the dinner party at the Qiao family. At that time, this man was talking intimately with Mrs. Qiao in the garden, and the two seemed to have a very good relationship.

Michelle was also looking at Wen Tingli, looking at her from head to toe, and then from toes to head, and said lightly: "Come in."

She speaks fluent Chinese. If you don't see her face, just listening to her voice you would think it's a native Chinese person speaking.

Wen Tingli walked over and placed the transfer acceptance letter and student record in her hand on the table, then bent down and bowed to Michelle.

"My name is Wen Tingli, and this is my student ID card." She smiled sweetly.

"Where's the transcript?" Michelle picked up the coffee cup beside her and took a sip nonchalantly.

"Oh, here it is." Wen Tingli hurriedly took out her transcript from last semester.

Michelle looked at the transcript for a long time before slowly putting down her coffee. "It's just so-so. Shiwu has always been committed to sending outstanding talents to society and higher education institutions. In addition to strictly enforcing students' homework, it also regularly evaluates students' behavior. Anyone who misbehaves will be immediately persuaded to withdraw or expelled. Miss Wen can come to Shiwu to study, but you must strictly abide by school discipline."

Wen Tingli pulled out a letter from her bag and handed it to Michelle: "This is a recommendation letter written for me by Xiu De's homeroom teacher, Mr. Huang Yun. Mr. Huang graduated from the Education Department of Fudan University and has always been very responsible for his students. If you look at this letter, you will know that the student performed very well in Xiu De in the past."

Michelle refused to accept the letter and just smiled: "As the vice president in charge of student morals, I must understand the situation of every transfer student in advance. I have already investigated Miss Wen's character."

Although her tone was smiling, her mind was not participating in the smile. Wen Tingli recalled the happy conversation between Michelle and Mrs. Qiao that night, and she couldn't help feeling a little uneasy. Just as she was about to say something, Michelle interrupted her and said, "Okay, go get your school uniform first, and then report directly to the third grade 'Seeking Truth' class."

As he spoke, he pushed the student manuals and other things on the table forward. Wen Tingli breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the pile of materials and said, "Thank you, Principal Michel."

"Wait a minute." Michelle tapped the table with her fingers. "The guardian who helped you transfer to another school only paid your tuition. You still need to pay for tuition, miscellaneous fees, food expenses, and textbook fees yourself."

There was a list on the table. The total cost of several items was a hundred dollars. Wen Tingli had been prepared for this, but her temples were still throbbing. Shishi was a well-known aristocratic girls' school. Students had customized uniforms all year round. In addition, the meals in the school seemed to be extremely exquisite.

Fortunately, there is only one semester left, but one hundred dollars is still not a small amount of money. It would be even better if I could apply for a subsidy from the school.

"Miss Wen, are you in trouble?" Michelle asked gently.

"It is a bit difficult." Wen Tingli admitted frankly, "I wonder if the school has any subsidy measures for poor students?"

"Yes, there is." Michelle smiled meaningfully, "But the quota for the first half of this year has been allocated. Besides, the various scholarships in the school have always been only for the best students. With Miss Wen's current grades..."

She sighed implicitly. Wen Tingli caught a few key words from these words and hurriedly confirmed with Michelle again: "The school often has some scholarship measures, right? When is the next one?"

Michelle said, "I have things to do. If you have any questions, please ask your class teacher. By the way, if you don't pay the fees in full today, the school will automatically assume that you have waived your admission qualification."

Wen Tingli had no choice but to carry the pile of things out, find the school accounting office to pay the fees, and then go to the life department to collect four sets of school uniforms.

There are only two classes in the third grade. Wen Tingli's new class is called "Seeking Truth" and the other class is called "Xingguo."

She walked to the door of the Qiuzhen class lightly, and immediately countless pairs of eyes looked at her. On the podium was a female teacher wearing a blue cheongsam and a red sweater. It was obvious that she had a good temper and was always friendly even when she was teaching.

Wen Tingli had found out in advance that this was the head teacher of the Truth-Seeking Class, whose name was Liu Yuanhua.

"Hello, Teacher Liu."

"Are you classmate Wen? Please come in." Liu Yuanhua enthusiastically led Wen Tingli into the classroom.

Then he introduced loudly: "This is Wen Tingli who transferred from Xiu De Middle School. She will be our new classmate from now on. Everyone applaud and welcome her."

There was a loud noise in the classroom, like a sudden downpour. Everyone looked at Wen Tingli with curious and friendly eyes. Wen Tingli responded with a smile. Amid the applause, Liu Yuanhua led Wen Tingli to the last row and said to a chubby girl with curly hair, "Yan Zhenzhen, let Wen Tingli sit next to you."

Yan Zhenzhen shrugged and slowly took out a pile of her own things from the empty desk next to her. Liu Yuanhua glared at Yan Zhenzhen with a doting and reproachful look, and when Wen Tingli sat down, he leaned over and said to her, "Take out your Chinese textbook. We just finished Lesson 13."

After class, Liu Yuanhua took Wen Tingli to find her locker.

"Every student has his or her own locker. You can put your school uniform and textbooks here first. Do you see the door at the end of the corridor? That is the recreation room and bathroom. Students often do some ladylike leisure activities there during breaks. The cafeteria is behind the Zhenhua Building. All students need to have lunch at school, including day students."

After taking Wen Tingli on a tour around the place, he sent her back to the noisy classroom. As soon as Wen Tingli sat down, she started to organize her textbooks.

Yan Zhenzhen held up her round face and lazily looked at Wen Tingli, and suddenly said, "I know you."

As he spoke, he threw a cookie into his mouth.

"Oh, really?" Wen Tingli smiled and looked back at her.

"I've seen your school's performance. They said you were the campus belle of Xiu De. They also said you..." Yan Zhenzhen deliberately stopped talking.

Wen Tingli opened her book and reviewed her notes. Yan Zhenzhen waited for a long time, but Wen Tingli still didn't respond. She couldn't help but curl her lips and said, "Boring."

She ate a few cookies while looking out the window out of spite, but she couldn't help herself and turned her head back.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, aren't you curious about what others say about you behind your back?"

Wen Tingli showed an incredible expression: "What do they say is their business? What does it have to do with me?"

Yan Zhenzhen was stunned, then clapped her hands and laughed.

"Okay, okay, you're an interesting person." She wiped her hands with a handkerchief and took the initiative to shake hands with Wen Tingli. "My name is Yan Zhenzhen. This is your first day here. If you have any questions, you can ask me."

He pushed the exquisite cookie jar in front of Wen Tingli and said, "This is what my father brought back from Belgium. It's better than the cookies in Feida Cafe. Try it."

Wen Tingli tasted it and said: "It's really delicious!"

He buried his head again to take notes. Yan Zhenzhen leaned over to take a look and saw that it was exactly the key points that Teacher Liu had just talked about in class.

"Do you really need to work so hard?"

Wen Tingli turned around and asked her, "I was just about to ask you, what scholarship programs does our school have?"

"Scholarship? Why are you asking that? Let me think about it. Every year, the first place in the final exam will receive a scholarship, and the first place in the quarterly exam will also receive a scholarship."

She pointed to a tall and thin female student in the front row and whispered, "For example, she, Chen Xiaohong, was admitted at public expense. Her father passed away last year and her family is in financial difficulty. But because she always gets first place in the exams, the scholarship she brought home in the past two years is much more than the salary her brother gets from working in the bookstore. In fact, the school has always been very generous to truly outstanding students."

Wen Tingli looked at the figure in front of her in awe. Earlier in class, she had just heard Chen Xiaohong answer questions with extensive citations and ability to draw inferences from one instance. Such a solid foundation was definitely not something she could catch up with in a short period of time.

"Apart from these, are there any other student aid programs?"

"Yes." Yan Zhenzhen placed the pen between her philtrum and upper lip, sometimes holding it up, sometimes putting it down, having a lot of fun. "For example, if you win a city-wide award on behalf of the school, the school will also give you a big reward. Last year, there was a girl named Meng Lin in the Xingguo class who won the first place in the Plum Blossom Poetry Competition held by the old scholars in the Zhongxi Private School. The school immediately gave her a reward of 500 yuan, which was called the 'Yuying Scholarship'."

Five hundred dollars?! Wen Tingli's eyes lit up.

"This matter was widely publicized in major newspapers for three days. I guess you have heard about it. However, the Yuying Scholarship must be approved by the Lu family before it can be issued."

Yan Zhenzhen pointed upwards and said, "That's our school's chief director, Mr. Lu."

The more Wen Tingli listened, the more interested she became. She couldn't wait to go to the library to borrow a newspaper to see what drama competitions were going on recently.

"Are you serious? Hey, wait a minute. Students cannot participate in off-campus competitions without permission. They must obtain approval from the school board in advance. But Mr. Lu doesn't seem to be in Shanghai recently. Are you planning to ask Mr. Lu to sign? If you really win the prize, won't you have to collect the check from him in person?"

Wen Tingli asked in surprise: "What's wrong with that?" "Forget about the old man. Mr. Lu is not much older than us. I heard that he is only 20 years old this year and has a strong personality. I am embarrassed to ask for money from such a person in person." Yan Zhenzhen frowned in distress and smiled.

Wen Tingli was amused by her behavior and asked curiously, "Why do you say he has a strong personality? Is this Mr. Lu difficult to deal with?"

"No, no, no. I heard that Mr. Lu is very easy to deal with, but he is very principled. When he first took over the Lu family, he gave subsidies to hundreds of thousands of workers, increased employee vacations, improved dormitory conditions, and finally set up a profit-sharing system, which pissed off his grandfather. At that time, everyone said that Mr. Lu was a prodigal son and expected that the Lu family's assets would shrink rapidly. Unexpectedly, in just half a year, the efficiency of the rubber factory and the sugar factory doubled. From then on, everyone from top to bottom was convinced of Mr. Lu. But in the first half of the year, the Lu family was really in a bloody storm. The outside world thought that Mr. Lu would not be able to bear it, but he managed to hold on as if nothing had happened. That's why everyone says he has courage and personality."

Yan Zhenzhen is very good at telling stories and Wen Tingli listened with great interest. At this time, Liu Yuanhua came to find Wen Tingli with a young female teacher.

"This is Mr. Chen from the Academic Affairs Office. She wants to see you."

Wen Tingli didn't understand what was going on, so she quickly put down her pen and followed Liu Yuanhua out.

Mr. Chen said coldly, "According to the school's regulations, every transfer student needs to take a test when entering the school. The gentlemen from the Academic Affairs Office are here and will give you a separate test later. Come with me."

Wen Tingli looked at Liu Yuanhua in astonishment. Liu Yuanhua also looked suspicious. Halfway through the conversation, he whispered to Wen Tingli, "In previous years, there were indeed exams for transfer students, but they were usually interview-based. This year, perhaps because Principal Zou was away, Vice Principal Michelle temporarily added a written exam. Don't worry, you've just transferred to Practical, so the questions won't be too difficult."

When we arrived at the small classroom, we saw a row of teachers sitting there, including Principal Michel.

Wen Tingli bowed nervously, sat down, and was dumbfounded when she saw the roll of paper.

The first essay topic is "The Impact of the French Revolution on the Development of European Industry" (Note)
The arithmetic problems are even more biased and tricky.

After writing haltingly for an hour, the old gentlemen above began to whisper to each other. Mr. Chen became more and more impatient, and when the time was up, he snatched the roll of paper away without any explanation.

Wen Tingli had no idea what was going on. In the afternoon, Liu Yuanhua brought Mr. Chen to see Wen Tingli again.

"The results are out," Mr. Chen said bluntly, "You only got one correct answer each in Chinese and math, and you failed English. The teachers in the Academic Affairs Office are now in an uproar. Your results are much worse than those of the worst students. The school has always attached more importance to the quality of students than the size of the student body. Students of your level can only be expelled immediately."

Liu Yuanhua was shocked: "How could it be? I've seen Wen Tingli's past transcripts. With her usual level, she would never have done so badly."

Mr. Chen looked at Liu Yuanhua meaningfully: "Mr. Liu, are you questioning the fairness of this exam? Don't forget that it was Principal Michel and the Academic Affairs Office who supervised the exam, and you were there too."

"That's not what I meant. I just think that Wen may not have performed well on his first day because he is not used to the practical exam questions. It would be a bit unreasonable to persuade him to quit..."

Mr. Chen said, "Principal Mi has taken this into consideration, so he has just urgently convened several school directors for a discussion. The final decision is to allow Wen Tingli to graduate from this school, but in order not to affect the overall quality of this year's graduates, the school does not agree to let her take the university entrance examination with a pragmatic student status. The joint entrance examination will be held at the end of August, and Wen will not be able to catch up in a short period of time with her current level. If she is forced to take the examination with the school's student status, it will inevitably affect the reputation of all graduates."

Wen Tingli's head was buzzing. She came to Shishi to take the college entrance examination. If she was not given a student status here, wouldn't she have to go back to Xiu De to get a student status certificate? Mrs. Qiao would never agree to this.

Wait, she knew what the problem was. "I'd like to see Ms. Michelle."

"I'll go with you." Liu Yuanhua said hurriedly.

Michelle was leisurely watering the flowers in the office and did not turn around when she heard the knock on the door.

"what's up?"

"Principal Mi, Wen Tingli is on her first day at school and is still in the adaptation stage. Should the school wait for her to adapt for a while before conducting a baseline test and finally taking the higher score as the standard?"

"No problem. If you and Wen Tingli both have objections to the test results, you can take the test again in a week or even a month."

Wen Tingli's heart sank. It seemed that no matter how many times she took the exam, Michelle would find a way to prevent her from getting the "ideal" score.

Thinking of the complicated look Michelle gave her this morning, Wen Tingli was almost certain that the vice principal was influenced by Mrs. Qiao. No wonder Mrs. Qiao agreed so readily that day. It turned out that she was waiting for her here. She could almost see Mrs. Qiao's extremely proud smile. It was a pity that Michelle did everything perfectly on the surface. Even if other members of the school board raised questions, no one had the patience to recheck the questions on the test paper.

What's more, who would offend the vice principal for a student?

"Does Mr. Wen have any objections?" Michelle sat down gracefully. "The school is just following the rules. I hope you can understand. After all, the purpose of our school is to cultivate talents, not to take care of mediocre people."

Wen Tingli cleared her throat and said, "I just finished reciting the student code of conduct of Shiwu Middle School. I remember that Article 48 of the school motto says: All students who receive the Yuying Scholarship will be rated as Shiwu's first-class outstanding graduates. Since they are first-class outstanding students, I believe the school will not refuse to enroll them. Did I recite this code correctly?"

Michelle's eyes shot straight at Wen Tingli through the lens, and she said slowly, "There is such a rule. However, the 'Yuying Scholarship' is established for those students who won the first place in the city's competition. Is Mr. Wen an excellent poet? Or an excellent translator? Or does he understand Western science? Or does he have some outstanding artistic talent?"

At the end of her words, a thick sarcasm suddenly appeared on her lips.

"Since the school has this rule, I am willing to sign up and give it a try. Once I win the prize, I hope the principal can personally reissue my student ID to me."

Michelle nodded with a smile: "Okay, let's wait and see. Yuan Hua, I still have to go to the Education Bureau, you can take Wen away first."

Liu Yuanhua took Wen Tingli to leave. On the way back, she couldn't help but say, "Vice Principal Michelle is in charge of student performance. Even Principal Zou has to respect her opinion in this regard. Sigh! There are only two months left before graduation. In such a short time, are you sure you can win the Yuying Scholarship? That's very difficult."

"Don't be afraid, you have to give it a try anyway."

At the end of the day, Wen Tingli had become familiar with almost all of her classmates. Taking the opportunity to chat with them, she also found out the names and preferences of the current members of the school drama club.

In the evening, she said goodbye to Yan Zhenzhen and others at the school gate and walked straight towards the tram on the opposite side. Unfortunately, she didn't have the chance to hear more words from Huang Yuanshan when he came over in the morning. It would not be easy to find Director Huang again now.

Suddenly I caught a glimpse of two men standing under a sycamore tree nearby. They were here again!

Wen Tingli thought of how these two people had allowed Qiu Lingyun to bully her last night, and she felt furious. She glared at them viciously, turned around and walked to the other side, and a familiar voice came from behind her.

"Miss Wen."

When she looked back, Huang Yuanshan was leaning against the car door and waving at her.

Wen Tingli was overjoyed. Huang Yuanshan walked towards her with a smile on his face: "There is a good coffee shop opened by a foreigner nearby. I will treat you to a drink. Miss Wen, don't refuse me first. I know you don't really want to join our industry. Just a few words will be enough. Listen to me--"

Unexpectedly, Wen Tingli took the initiative to take over the conversation: "Where is that cafe? Let's go."

***
Huang Yuanshan is a straightforward person. After sitting down and saying a few words, he directly changed the topic to movies.

"Miss Wen, I bet you will like this movie script, called "Southern Beauty", the protagonist is a female student, and her age is just right for Miss Wen. The script was written by Ms. Yue Zhaoyun, a famous writer in Peking, and it is very well written. As soon as I got the script, I asked several actresses in our company to audition, but unfortunately either their age or temperament was not suitable. In order to find a suitable leading actor, I have recently set my sights on the major school troupes in Shanghai. So, I came to your school's art department director early in the morning, but I came up empty-handed. But I never expected that Miss Wen would be interested, that's great!

This person's face lights up when he talks about movies.

Wen Tingli said seriously, "Director Huang, I have absolutely no prejudice against making movies, but on the one hand, my father doesn't really understand this industry, and I'm a little worried that he won't be able to accept it. On the other hand, I'm still studying, and filming must not affect my studies."

"It will definitely not delay your studies. I am quite familiar with your principal Zou Zheping, and I will communicate with your school in advance about the filming time."

Wen Tingli was delighted, but still didn't give in.

Huang Yuanshan chuckled: "Miss Wen, are you worried that I won't pay you? Don't worry, our company will never deliberately lower the price just because you are a student. We will negotiate the price with you and sign a formal contract before the filming begins. Everything is reasonable and legal."

"The compensation is secondary." Wen Tingli pretended to be silent. "There is still a lot of prejudice against actors in the market. I can participate in your company's movie, but I must have a fairly formal title."

"how do I say this?"

"I hope Miss Huang can organize a formal drama competition with all the major middle schools in Shanghai. I will then sign up to participate as a student of Practical Girls' Middle School."

Huang Yuanshan was stunned.

"Director Huang, think about it. Those who can sign up for this kind of competition must be the students who are most interested in drama from various universities. After one competition, your company will not be able to find new talents who are both young and good at acting."

Huang Yuanshan's eyebrows jumped. This was a good idea. In order to select new talents, the company had funded the "Miss Shanghai" competition last year. The top three were beautiful, but they knew nothing about acting.

She was a straightforward person. She thought for a moment and immediately made the decision: "I will start preparing right away, but a competition takes at least one or two months. My new movie is about to start shooting. How can I wait that long?"

Wen Tingli smiled bitterly: "I haven't had time to act in movies recently. I have to prepare for the graduation exam. In addition, my father is seriously injured and hospitalized. I have to stay in the hospital every night to help take care of him. After I finish talking to you, I have to rush back to the hospital as soon as possible."

Huang Yuanshan was stunned: "Your father is in the hospital? I'm sorry, I don't know the situation at your home. Which hospital is he in? I'll go with you to see him later."

"Thank you for your kindness, Sister Huang. I just want to say that the college entrance exam is extremely important to me." Wen Tingli glanced at the gate of Shiwu Middle School opposite her thoughtfully. "I have encountered some problems in school recently. This drama competition is very important to me. My request is: wait until I win the championship of this competition, and then your company will invite me, the champion of the competition, to participate in "Southern Beauty" in the name of the organizer. In this way, the public will know why I participated in the movie, and my father will be more receptive to the news in the future."

"I see." Huang Yuanshan showed sympathy, "But - Miss Wen, are you so sure that you can win the drama competition?"

Wen Tingli folded her hands to support her chin, and gave Huang Yuanshan an extremely brilliant smile: "I never thought that I would fail."

Huang Yuanshan was stunned for a moment, then immediately formed a square with his thumb and index finger and aimed it at Wen Tingli's face.

"Yes, that's right, this angle. This face, whether it's a close-up or a long shot, is so outstanding. Miss Wen, you are so beautiful and confident. You were born for the art of film."

She became more and more excited as she spoke, rubbing her hands and saying, "Let me think about where to start. The first step is to obtain the consent of the directors of all the high schools for this kind of competition... How about this, you come with me to meet someone first."

"Meeting whom?"

"Your Shiwu Middle School's headmaster, Lu Shicheng. When I came this morning, I heard from your vice-principal that Lu Shicheng might have to go back to Nanyang tomorrow. If we want to get this done, we must first hurry up and find Lu Shicheng for his signature. With Shiwu Girls' Middle School taking the lead, it will be natural to mobilize Xiu De, Hui Zhen and other Shanghai middle schools to join the competition. Let's go to Lu's Mansion before it gets dark."

(End of this chapter)